The British Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says racially-motivated violence has shifted from inner city areas to towns and villages across Britain.

In a recent report, IRR researchers said they analyzed 660 racist attacks across Britain last year and found that most violence against minorities is now taking place in rural areas and towns, while inner city areas, that once were hotbeds of racial violence, are now more at ease with diversity.

The IRR report, entitled Racial Violence: the Buried Issue, lashed out at mainstream political parties for competing over who can halt the flow of immigrants to the country as quickly as possible.

The report states that migrant communities, asylum-seekers, Blacks and other minority ethnic groups are all falling victim to these somehow politically created tensions.

They also found that asylum seekers, newly-arrived migrant workers, and people who look Muslim are most at risk of racial attacks.

The IRR report said: "What has emerged is that the map of violence has changed quite dramatically since studies were first done of such violence in the 1970s.

"It is no longer poor deprived areas of London such as Southall, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham, which witnessed many of the racial attacks and racist murders a generation or two ago, that are now so prone to serious attacks.

"Not only are Black and ethnic minority communities now more established there, but also a whole history of struggle against racism has strengthened these communities.”

The report noted: "But what was significant was that ethnic minorities in a whole host of cities, towns and areas not traditionally associated with such violence now appear to be experiencing it.

"These are areas, which have traditionally been very white… are not affluent. In some cases core industries have gone and a whole generation of young people are without a future.”

Referring to the case of Stephan Lawrence who was killed while waiting for a bus in Eltham, south London, in 1993, the report said "at least 89 identifiably racist murders have taken place in Britain since then, i.e. an average of five a year".

Of the victims, 39 were Asian, 25 were Black, four were white British, and three were white Eastern Europeans.

Lee Bridges, who analyzed official crime statistics for the report, found that while racist attacks had decreased in London over the past decade, they have dramatically risen in proportion elsewhere.

In 1999-2000, London recorded 23,401 racist incidents, 49 percent of the national total.

By 2007-2008, the number had dropped to 9,866, a 58 percent reduction.

Last year, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Thames Valley, and Lancashire accounted for 28 percent of the national total, a 103 percent increase in 10 years.